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Recently, several major Japanese insurance companies have started working on various projects related to space insurance as follows: Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance Co., Ltd. launched a “space project” on April 1, 2022, aiming to contribute to the growth and development of the space industry. On April 21, 2022, the company announced the joint development of a “Lunar Insurance” to support lunar exploration with Beazley PLC in the UK, one of the major players in the international space insurance market. On April 21, 2022, Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co. Ltd. and ispace, inc., a Japanese lunar exploration company, announced that they had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to create ...

The Japanese Diet passed the Space Resources Act (the “Act”) on 15 June 2021.  The Act allows Japanese private entities to explore, extract and use various space resources such as water, minerals and other natural resources existing in outer space, including on the Moon and other celestial bodies.  Most significantly, the Act allows persons who conduct these activities of exploration and development of space resources to acquire ownership of the space resources that they mine or extract by their activities conducted in accordance with the plan they submitted when obtaining permission.